I remember
by Jukia Wolfcall
Summary: Sara wishes away her daughter in an attempet to save her from Sara's drunken husband. But will Jareth help or has he turned his heart away from the one he loved.
1. Authors Note

Hello.  
This is just an A/n telling you guys that, yes, I believe I made Rose a bit to young for her actions. I'm going back to rewrite my chappies so she fits her part a bit better. Thank you for everything, all my reviewers. Also, I may condense a few chappies together so they're longer. I know I write short chappies. Sorry. I love you guys. ~Jukia 


	2. Friends listen to Friends, Mama

A/N: Okaies. This is the REVISED 1st chappie! I'm going to put it up front where chappie 11 would be and every thing and go back and delete what I've fixed. No worries. Things are different. I wont tell you what but there are. Read it though and don't hate me! Viola. ~Jukia  
  
Disclaimer: What do you think?  
  
"Sleep well," Sara murmured as she gently stroked her child's face.  
  
The girl's green eyes stayed gently shut. Her long dark hair ruffled slightly with each soothed breath of sleep. Fair, pale skin reflected the moonlight that slid over her bed.  
  
Nine years. Nine hellish years, thought Sara. Her hand went to her eye and traced the bruise.  
  
Her husband. He promised her the stars. He promised love, care and a good life. Not one circled around alcohol or drugs. He would come home late at night, drunk as hell, and it was all Sara could do to keep him beating her so he would forget about the child. They, more she and her daughter because Bobby was always gone, lived in a nice house. Four levels including a basement but nice spiral stair case that went into the front room.  
  
The sound of the front door opening jerked her from her thoughts.  
  
She slipped from her daughters' bedroom and closed the door as quietly as she could. When she turned around she was face to face with her drunken husband.  
  
"Sara." He said coldly  
  
"B-Bobby," Sara replied, trying to keep the fear out of her voice.  
  
"Don't back talk me, Bitch!" He snarled as he slapped her across the face. Sara cupped her hurt cheek and glared malevolently at him. He punched her in the stomach, then her side. She gasped and doubled over with pain. He brought his elbow down onto her head and she collapsed.  
  
He opened the door and spat at her, "Now for that good for nothing daughter of yours'."  
  
With her last bit of strength Sara screamed, "No! Stop! Please no! Jareth! HELP HER!"  
  
She closed her eyes and all she could do was breath. Breath. Sleep.  
  
It was still dark when Sara opened her eyes. Bobby was gone. She took a deep breath and opened the door.  
  
Rose was sleeping. She had a truly amazing set of bruises on her arms and face. Her hair had a bit of blood caked to it.  
  
"Rose?" Sara asked with a quivering voice, "Rosy, are you alright."  
  
Her daughter stirred and whispered, "I'm ok mama."  
  
"Oh, Rose!" Sara gasped and held her daughter to her. She put her head on Roses small shoulder and cried, "I'm so sorry Rose. I tried to keep him from hurting you. I really tried. I'm so sorry."  
  
"It's ok mama." Rose bared her teeth in a feral grin, "I'm nine years old. I'm ok." "I'm so sorry Rose! I shouldn't be a mother!" Sarah sobbed.  
"No mama! I'm really fine. It's not your fault! It's your friends!  
It's his fault! All his!" "No, Rose dear. It's not all his fault, darling." "Then why wont he listen to us, Mama!? You said he loved you!" Rose protested, full of childlike innocence. "I thought he did. But he didn't know that I loved him." Rose huffed, wincing when she brushed her arms together. "Why didn't you tell him?" "Because." Sarah stumbled. "I didn't know that I loved him as much as I did. And some one I knew I loved was in danger." "Friends listen to friends, Mama." Rose said firmly. "If he was your friend, and you loved him, and he loved you then he should have listened!" Sarah, caught off guard by her daughter's directness was speechless. "I don't trust him." She stated suddenly. "He doesn't want to help us." "You shouldn't trust him. He's tricksy." Sarah murmured, using the word they had adopted. "I hope he dies!" Rose shouted. "I wish he would! I really do, Mama! I wish that Jareth would d-" "Shh. It's okay. That's enough. Go to sleep Rose." Rose yawned. "Yes mama." Curled up in her mothers arms, Rose drifted into sleep, dreaming of a father she hoped may have still cared, even if she didn't. Even as her breathing was light, Sarah prayed, again and again, hoping that this time they would be answered. That he would hear.  
  
"Get up!" Bobby shouted and grabbed his wife by the arm. He pulled her out of the room and down the first flight of stairs, "Think your so smart, don't you? Trying to comfort her and all?!"  
  
"N-No."  
  
He hit her, "Don't talk back!"  
  
He started pacing for a moment before saying, "Well we can stop that. We can just kill you both." He pulled out a long, cruel looking knife, "And I'll kill her first."  
  
"NO!" Sara screamed and jumped to her feet. He drove the knife into her stomach and twisted. Sara fell to the ground on her side.  
  
"So you can stay here," He explained as Sara clutched at the gaping wound, "So you can stay here and listen to her screaming."  
  
"No!" Sara screamed, as he left, "NO! ROSE GET OUT! RUN ROSE!" "Run! Run! Please get out! Go! Rose run!" She sobbed  
  
Bobby was halfway up the stairs when Sara shouted, "Rose, I wish the goblins would come and take you away, RIGHT NOW!"  
  
The lights flashed off. Bobby tripped and fell down the stairs, unconscious.  
  
"JARETH!" She screamed, "JARETH! HELP ME!"  
  
Nothing happened.  
  
"Jareth! Help me! Help her! I'm dying, Jareth!"  
  
Jareth sat with his hand over his eyes and his feet propped up on a low stool in the middle of his workroom. If only they knew being king isn't always sitting on the throne, he thought wistfully as he read a report on more goblin vandalism from a different kingdom.  
  
He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. His head ach was getting worse. He knew what that meant. Some one was about to wish their child away again. It didn't happen often, but when it did his head felt like it would spilt in two.  
  
The last time this had happened was ten years ago. His migraine intensified as grief roared through him. Sara had wished her brother away then. She was the first and maybe the last to regret her decision enough to face his domain and all those inside.  
  
"Jareth!"  
  
He snapped to his feet with surprise then shuddered with regret, as the pain became that much worse. No one ever called his name when they wished some one away. No one ever did.  
  
"I wish the goblins would come and take you away right now!"  
  
He knew that voice. Damn it all, he knew her!  
  
"Jareth! Help me! Jareth!"  
  
He could hear so much pain in her voice.  
  
"Jareth! Help me! Help her! I'm dying, Jareth!"  
  
With out a second thought he threw one of his crystals onto the ground and was at the house. 


	3. In return for my life

A/N: Okies.Please don't kill me. Erm.Please? Bewhere. Hope I'm in a good mood when I write the next chappie or deaths may result. MWAHAAHA! ...Whoa..That was odd.  
Disclaimer: I own Rose and Bobby. Even though I wish I didn't own Bobby. Evil son of a . . . any way . . . I own no one else.  
  
Jareth was standing at the top of a staircase. The moment he was there he could tell some thing was wrong. He could feel the fear. It was everywhere in this house. Fear and pain. He could see the front room from the stairs. There was blood all over the white marble floor. It was pooled around,  
  
"Sara!" He whispered. It took him a moment to regain the cold, contemptuous look that was the goblin king.  
  
He jumped over the railing and landed like a cat next to Sara's still body.  
  
She smiled coldly and coughed on blood, "Jareth."  
  
He nodded with no emotion.  
  
"You heard me call." He voice was rough and husky from the blood caught in her throat.  
  
Jareth could hardly breath. There was so much blood. It was all over the floor and her.  
  
"I heard."  
  
Sara smiled, "I'm dying Jareth."  
  
He shuddered, "I can see that."  
  
"Oh Jareth." She said with intended cruelty, "You never would let you feelings show."  
  
"Who did you wish away this time?" She started to say some thing but he cut her off, "And is it really worth my time or will you just run my maze again?"  
  
"I'm hardly in the condition to run your maze." She laughed "I can see that." He whispered She barked out a laugh and choked.  
  
"Who."  
  
"My daughter."  
  
"Why?" he asked with alarm  
  
"The only place the bastard that did this to me can't get her." "Who would do. . ." He asked slowly, aghast at all the crimson blood that slackened the marble floor until Jareth could even tell it was once white. "My husband." She told him coldly. "You would marry . . ." He trailed off. "You see, Jareth. There was nothing more I could do. You cold, heart-less bastard. You brought me to this. It might as well been you holding the knife." Sarah hacked up more blood then smiled and fell unconscious.  
  
Jareth knelt beside her and rested his hand on the wound. He hoped the slight healing he could do in her world could keep her alive.  
  
Jareth trusted the strong feeling behind the pink painted door was Sara's girl.  
  
He knocked on the door softly. When a small whimper came from within but no movement, he slowly opened the door.  
  
There was a little girl, hiding under her blankets, in her bed. He saw a small hand snake out of the hiding place and grope around for a moment before finding and grabbing a small toy unicorn.  
  
"Hello." He said turning his voice from the cruel goblin king to the gentle croon  
  
The whimper got a bit louder.  
  
"It's alright, I won't hurt you."  
  
The whining stopped. A small head poked out from the blankets.  
  
"W-who are you?"  
  
"I'm Jareth." He said and took a step closer. She cringed but didn't hide.  
  
"M-mummy said not to trust Jareth. Or daddy. She said that." The girl nodded vigorously as if to prove her point.  
  
"I won't hurt you," He repeated  
  
"But mummy said!" She protested.  
  
Jareth took slow steps closer until he was just an arms length away. "Why did your mom say that?" He asked, trying hard to not let the emotional blow hurt. "You didn't listen to us!" The girl accused, gaining a bit of courage. "You don't love us!" "I-" "Do you?" "I'm here to help you." "Mummy said!"  
  
"It's alright. You're ok."  
  
"M-mummy."  
  
"Ok."  
  
"Said not to."  
  
"Your fine"  
  
"To-to trust."  
  
Jareth took a sharp breath as the moon light poured through the window reveling bruises and cuts that made him wince. Both eyes were blackened and all down her neck. A smear of dried blood rested at the corner of her mouth. Her arms were in similar shape. "What happened, dear?" He asked her in his most trusting voice. She smiled in an eerie manner. "Mummy said not to trust you. Or Daddy." He suppressed a groan of pain as he thought what she had been through. "I swear I wont hurt you." "I don't trust you. You don't love us." He twisted his hand. Suddenly a glass orb appeared in his grip. The girl gasped. "A shiny!" She sounded pleased. "Do you want to hold it?" He asked her softly. She became wary. "I don't know . . ." He tossed it lightly to her. She caught it with a look of triumph. But her eyelids dropped in a deep, enchanted sleep. Jareth scooped her into his arms like a treasure and took her safly into the underground.  
  
The pain was crippling but added to the grief of losing her only daughter, Sarah felt like she would die. What would he tell her, when Rose grew up? Would he say that Sarah wished her away because she didn't love her? Or would he tell the truth?  
  
She had to get help. The wound wasn't bleeding as badly but needed stitches. Lots of stitches.  
  
Sarah pushed herself up onto her elbows then, slowly, inched across the floor.  
  
She could see it on the table but there was no way she could reach it.  
  
How? How could she get it down?! The phone cord! If she pulled on the phone cord then she could knock it off the table.  
  
He hand fisted around several wires and she pulled. She did it slowly so she wouldn't pull the phone cord out. It started inching towards her.  
  
Closer. Closer. It stopped suddenly. A leather-clad hand held it firmly in place.  
  
With out looking up Sarah spat, "Jareth."  
  
"Yes, it's me." His voice was no longer unemotional but cold and cruel.  
  
"I suppose you want me to die."  
  
"Die?" His eyebrows rose, "No. I never wanted you to die, Sarah."  
  
She gritted her teeth and fought dearly for consciousness, "Then what is it!?"  
  
"Simple. You tore my heart out and left me there to die. I'm only giving you the same curtsy."  
  
"That was different! You couldn't actually die!"  
  
"Oh how very wrong you are." He smiled sadly, showing off his oddly pointed fangs  
  
"Help." She croaked, feeling her strength ebb.  
  
"In return for what, Sarah? More pain?"  
  
"In return for my life!"  
  
"No." 


	4. Mama Didn't Mama wouldn't!

"No." Jareth had to bite his lip until blood flowed so physical pain could over whelm the emotional, "I won't help you. But I wont let you die either."  
  
Sarah nodded.  
  
"Good bye Sarah. I wish you a long life."  
  
He set the phone by her face and, for the second time that night, vanished.  
  
Rose awoke on black satin sheets and a bed big enough to swallow her whole. There was soft candlelight shining from beyond matching hangings. The room smelled, male. It unnerved her. But it was cool and relaxing and she was almost too comfortable to be worried.  
  
Almost.  
  
Setting her teeth, Rose pushed the hangings out of the way and slid off the huge bed. She was wearing an interesting nightie that she had never seen before and her closet was full of dresses that looked like they would fit.  
  
"Of course they will fit," she snarled to herself, "If some one brought me here then they would want me to be dressed."  
  
She wandered around the admittedly large room and found that the door, while closed, was unlocked. Rose decided to get dressed and find out what is going on.  
  
"You should go check on her, Jareth," said Jareth's advisor, Aaron, and close friend; "If she's anything like her mother she's bound to be a little bitch when she wakes up."  
  
Jareth scrubbed his hands over his face before slowly nodding, "Yeah, I suppose so. I mean, that is what I should do, right?"  
  
His friend peered into his face, "What's wrong? Did the girl die or some thing?" His jest did nothing but harden the mood.  
  
"I left her. I broke my connection with her. I'll never hear her again, even if she wishes some one away I still wont hear her."  
  
His friend turned away for a second, not wanting to see Jareth in this moment of weakness. "I knew she would never love you." He told Jareth.  
  
Jareth's eyes went wide for a moment before he surrendered to his grief. He didn't know his friend's intention was to spur him into the pain cleansing anger. "Yes. Your, right." Jareth stumbled so badly over the words that after that he found he could no longer say anything.  
  
"It's alright. She'll be okay." He said softly to the goblin king, "She'll be okay." "Aaron," Jareth whispered, hating the weakness, hating how much he needed his friend. "I hope so."  
  
"Where am I!?" Shouted Rose as she made her way down a seemingly endless corridor. The black walls and floor lined with touches made her truly nervous. She heard the crash of something in a different room. She paused, and ran to the room where she had heard the noise come from. She pushed open the large door and bolted into the room, then as far back out as she could get. She backed into the far wall, turned around, and sprinted back to where she had awoken. "What the hell?" Aaron shouted Rose gasped. "It was Rose." Jareth replied in an awestruck voice. "I thought she would still be sleeping."  
  
"Where am I?" All she could see was bright lights  
  
"Your safe. Don't worry." Said a soft female voice  
  
"But, Jareth. My daughter." She protested  
  
"Your safe dear."  
  
"No! She's not safe! She's with him! I have to find them!"  
  
"Miss, if you keep distressing yourself like that I'll have to give you a sedative."  
  
"But my daughter is trapped with him!"  
  
"The man who did this to you?"  
  
"No," Sarah whispered, "Worse."  
  
"Rose," The man said carefully.  
  
"Yes, Rose." Her voice quivered lightly. She paused and looked him up and down. "I like your shirt." She told him meekly. The white poet shirt that he favored had captured her attention.  
  
The man seemed to be fighting laughter. "My name is Jareth."  
  
Rose's eyes darkened and her humor disappeared. "Why did you bring me here, Goblin king." She demanded.  
  
"Sarah," He faltered, paused, and started over. "Your mother wished you away."  
  
"She didn't!" Rose whispered as she backed against the wall.  
  
"I'm so sorry, Rose. If I could have it any other way." Jareth began.  
  
"You!" She spat. "It's all your fault! You're the one who hurt her so badly! YOU!"  
  
"What?" Jareth asked, looking sincerely confused.  
  
Rose had tears in her eyes. "If there was anything she could have given you she would. Why!? Why did you want me?!"  
  
Rose fell back onto the ground as her knees gave out.  
  
"I never asked for you, Rose."  
  
"She didn't! She wouldn't give me to you! She wouldn't give me to you!" She put an emphasis on the word you. Her eyes were full of tears and pain. "Mommy." She moaned. "Mommy help me mommy."  
  
The knife in Jareth heart gave a final twist before it faded away.  
  
His voice was soft and calm, "If I could do anything but this I would. I would bring your mother here. But I cant unless she is wished away."  
  
Roses green eyes glowed with rage. "Can't or won't, you highness." She sneered. She watched him wince as she said; "Sarah paid the price dearly for loving you. You can't take the pain she suffered, then let her loss be in vain."  
  
Rose stood up carefully and staggered slowly away back to the room where she awoke.  
  
Jareth stood around puzzling over what his loves daughter had just said.  
  
"Please!" Sarah gasped.  
  
"Why?" Asked the truly confused nurse.  
  
"I just need you to say that to me! Please! I promise I'll do everything right if you do! I wont fight or any thing! I'll do what ever you say!"  
  
The nurse was holding a piece of paper with a few words scribbled on it. Well, she thought, their just words. And If they make her behave.  
  
"Fine." The nurse said flatly "I wish the goblins would come and take you away right now."  
  
The lights went out.  
  
The nurse fainted.  
  
Sarah forced her breath to stay even.  
  
"You have to take me Jareth." She whispered.  
  
"I have to do nothing, Sarah, I am the ruler of my own domain." He stepped out of the shadows. He was wearing black. All black. Leather, silk and some thing else.  
  
"You have to take me!" She said with a bit more urgency. She didn't want him alone with her daughter.  
  
"I am the Goblin King. I have no need to do as you order."  
  
"You can't have her!" Sarah shouted  
  
"I already do have her, Sarah. She's there, in my castle."  
  
Sarah's throat worked convulsively. "What did you tell her?"  
  
"I told her that her mother had no choice but to wish her away."  
  
She slumped in relief. At least Rose knew that she still loved her.  
  
"But she had some interesting things she said, Sarah, and I'm not taking you any where until you tell me exactly what she meant."  
  
She swallowed hard.  
  
"What did she say?"  
  
"She said that you paid the price dearly for loving me, Sarah."  
  
"I-I-" Her face flushed as her resolve grew. She opened her mouth to let the truth known. 


	5. I called you, Jareth

Rose was crying.  
  
She couldn't help it.  
  
She was alone. Truly, truly alone. What else could she do but cry?  
  
Mother left her. No, saying mother made it all too real. Sarah left her. Abandoned her.  
  
Tears, blood and pain. Sure, maybe that was all he life had ever been, but who the hell else cared? No one, that's who. No one but mom.  
  
Sarah.  
  
Black satin pillows were soaked with tears and Roses sobs had just quieted a bit when a knock came at the door.  
  
"You'll be coming down to dinner soon." Informed a hansom looking man who had poked his head into her room.  
  
Rose gave him a death glare. "No!"  
  
"Jareth's orders miss." He said calmly.  
  
"Jareth can go to hell" Rose shouted, dredging up the wrost words she remembered her mom shouting at Bobby and guessed no one said that around here cause the guy nearly wet himself.  
  
"Y-yes. I'll leave you to get dressed." He muttered and left as fast as he could.  
  
Rose lay back onto the bed and thought of her father.  
  
She didn't really have any good memories of him. He had gotten Sarah pregnant too early, just a year out of the Labyrinth. But at least he didn't leave. The only things she remembered form him were beatings and alcohol.  
  
But mama. Mama was good. Mama was kind. Mama always knew when to talk and when to hold. Mama.  
  
But it was mama who betrayed her! It was mama, loving mama, who left her with the one person that she told her never to trust.  
  
Without really seeing, Rose threw open the doors to the large wooden wardrobe, filled with dresses.  
  
She looked through them all. One, hidden in the back of the wardrobe, matched the room.  
  
Black. Sheer black.  
  
This was the dress.  
  
She slid it on. Velvet fabric molded to her form perfectly. It had no shoulders and sweep along the ground. It had nothing frilly or stupid. It was a deep dress, a dark dress, which depicted her thoughts ever so clearly.  
  
She brushed her hair until it looked like a shimmering sheet of silk.  
  
She bit her lip. Some thing was missing. What?  
  
She looked into the mirror. A little bit of blood stained the corner of her lip red. She quickly covered her lips in the bright red color.  
  
The contrast of the black dress on her pale skin and her red lips with her green eyes made her look so much older.  
  
Oh yes. This was the dress.  
  
With a grim smile, she left for dinner.  
  
"I loved you." Sarah said bluntly. "I was in love even before I won the Labyrinth."  
  
Jareth choked. "You loved me." He murmured softly to himself.  
  
"You were the only on I could think about. It was always you in my dreams. It was always your voice in my head, offering my dreams." She looked at him. "Did you know that you were the only dream I had when you offered?"  
  
"Sarah," Jareth whispered and stroked her cheek with a leather-clad hand  
  
Sarah pulled away. "I said I loved you. Not that I love you now."  
  
Her words hit like an invisible wall and crushed the breath out of him.  
  
"You hurt me too badly, Jareth. How can I welcome you back into my life? How can you expect me to?"  
  
Tears were on her face but she continued. "Then suddenly I was pregnant. It was just a year after I left you. I snapped myself out of my depression. But I called on you every night, hoping you could hear me."  
  
"What did you ask?" Jareth asked, his voice full of grief.  
  
"I told you that I wanted to marry you. I wanted to have a loving husband. Bt more then that I wanted my child to have a father. I wanted you to be that father."  
  
Jareth's eyes were shining with unshed tears.  
  
"I had nothing in the world here. I wanted to live in the underground with you. I knew that we would be safe there. Safe from the bastard that gutted me. But you didn't hear me. Or maybe you just didn't listen." She smiled grimly  
  
"I couldn't hear you. I couldn't!" Jareth said, raging at himself.  
  
Sarah paid no heed to him.  
  
"But I kept asking every night until Rose was five. Then one day she walked in on me. I had been crying.  
  
**Flash back**  
  
Sarah scrubbed her tear-stained face and turned to see her daughter in the doorway.  
  
"Mama?!" exclaimed the young girl. "Why are you crying?!"  
  
Sarah, at a loss, had no time to find a lie. "I was asking a friend for help."  
  
Roses eyes took on a puzzled look. "If it's your friend why are you crying?"  
  
With a little sniffle, Sarah managed to reply, "Because he forgot that I need him."  
  
"What help did you need?" Mrs. Williams looked at her young daughter. The girl who called her mom but called Bobby Bobby and never dad.  
  
"He was going to be your daddy. A real daddy."  
  
Rose did the most inexplicable thing. She knelt down next to her mother, looked out the open window into the night and said, "Please, Mommy's friend, listen to mommy. I need a daddy and she needs a friend. I don't like it when mommy cries and you shouldn't too. I need you as a daddy."  
  
**End Flash back**  
  
"But you never came. We both turned to each other. We both used rage to heal pain. And our trust never healed. " Sarah finished.  
  
Jareth was beside himself with anger. How could he have been so stupid as to cut himself off so he wouldn't be hurt more? He did the worst thing he could have. He lost Sarah, Rose and his hope in one stupid mistake.  
  
"I'll take you to Rose." He whispered. He took her hand into his and they left the hospital in each other's arms.  
  
Rose followed the music.  
  
She hadn't set out to. On the contrary, she had set out for her dinner, but hearing the music echoing around the marble hallways was to intriguing to just let be.  
  
It was soft music. The kind of music played in a ballroom. The kind Rose had always imagined the prince charming and his true love waltzing to.  
  
She came to a large wooden door, deeply engraved with unicorn and dragons, which bared her path.  
  
She pushed it open and forgot to breath. Her eyes were round as saucers and her mouth was hanging open.  
  
A deep voice whispered into her ear softly, "Do you like it?"  
  
Rose didn't even turn around. She knew the voice didn't belong to the vicious Goblin King, nor did it hold any thing frightening. It was a question from some one deeply amused and nothing more.  
  
"It-I-Ball Room-" Rose stammered. She took a breath and recomposed herself. "It's amazing." She turned around.  
  
The man was chuckling to himself as he watched her. He had unruly blond hair that came to his ears, like Jareth's, but his eyes were both sky blue. He wore black pants and a navy blue satin shirt that was cut in a billowing V from his shoulders to waistline, revealing quite a bit of smooth, alabaster skin.  
  
"Well now." The man said, "Who do we have here?"  
  
She smiled, "I'm Rose. Who are you?"  
  
He smiled. "Aaron."  
  
"Oh." Rose considered the name for a moment then stated thoughtfully, "This place is amazing."  
  
Aaron smiled. If only she knew this was the same ballroom her mother danced in so long ago.  
  
"Do you dance?" He asked, offering her his hand.  
  
Rose shook her head lightly and took it. "I was never taught."  
  
"Here." Aaron said with a smile. "Stand on my toes."  
  
Rose laughed. "I don't want to scuff your pretty boots."  
  
"Screw the boots, your learning how to dance." He twirled her around then waited. As she stood up on his feet he said, "This hand goes on my hip. And this one on my shoulder." She put her hands in the proper form then he took a step back. Rose lurched up against his stomach.  
  
"Easy." He laughed. "Go with the music. Don't fight for your balance." He took a step forward. She stayed up. He took another. Then two more. A twirl. Step back. To the side. Side. Forward. Spin. Other side. Side. Backward. Spin.  
  
Music from a small brass colored globe filled the air.  
  
"Fae magic!" Rose thought as she stared at the music box.  
  
"Try it on your own feet now." Aaron told her.  
  
And so they danced.  
  
"She should be here by now!" Jareth growled under his breath.  
  
They had gone to her rooms only to find them deserted. The dining hall was just as barren when it came to the little girl. The only person worth anything was Aaron, residing in the ballroom, alone. Jareth told Sarah to wait while he went and prowled the rooms and corridors of his palace.  
  
When he returned to Sarah he had still no luck.  
  
"W-where is she?" Sarah asked. Her skin had paled greatly just with shock of the underground and fear of Jareth.  
  
"She wandered off." He said, aiming for a dismissive tone that came out far more strained then intended.  
  
Sarah's face lost what little color remained. Her voice sharpened with anger. "You lost her?"  
  
Jareth threw his hands up in frustration. "I didn't lose her!"  
  
"Then where is she?" Sarah added a bit more edge to her voice, adding a furious tang at the end of her sentence. "Oh great ruler of your domain. Where is she?"  
  
With a flash the mask dropped and Jareth was once more the Goblin King. He raised his hand, as though about to slap her. "I suggest being a bit more respectful." He growled.  
  
Sarah opened her mouth and closed it again soundlessly. On reflex she began cowering before him as soon as he raised his hand, and hated herself for it.  
  
She thought, hoped, that for a moment he would let her love him again. Love her again. Now she saw how foolish she was. He was and always will be the Goblin King. And until he can change that, there will be no love.  
  
Sarah Williams straitened herself and looked him in the mismatched eyes. She laughed.  
  
The Goblin King lowered his hand in curiosity.  
  
"Why are you laughing?" His voice was hard with a seductive edge on it.  
  
Sarah continued to laugh. "I was so stupid!" She exclaimed between fits. "I thought you loved me!" She laughed until tears came down her cheeks. "I thought." She choked on a sob. "I thought for a." Tears continued rolling down her face. "For a stupid, stupid moment that you were Jareth!"  
  
"I am Jareth." The Goblin King said solemnly  
  
"No!" Sarah sobbed. "No. I fell in love with Jareth. I hoped Jareth would let me let him back into my life. But you're not Jareth. You're the Goblin King. You're a monster."  
  
The Goblin King stared. At Sarah. At his fist.  
  
Jareth turned and strode away from the room, mortified with himself. 


	6. Your not my mother

"What have I done?" Jareth asked himself, pacing furiously back and forth in his chambers. "Damn it! What have I done?!" He turned and slammed both fists into a twilight colored wall. He paced a few more times then leaned onto the wall.  
  
He slumped his back against the wall and slowly let himself slide to the ground. "What have I done?" He whispered. No tears stained his face. No. He was too strong for tears. The Goblin King was too strong for tears.  
  
"Sarah, forgive me."  
  
"Damn him!" Sarah whispered with heart-felt intensity. "Damn him to hell!"  
  
Her eyes filled with tears.  
  
He was the Goblin King. He was. Nothing she could do would change it. Her love couldn't even soften the ice in his heart. He hurt her bad enough that she wanted to give up living.  
  
But seeing again made her weak. She wanted to love him. She wanted to trust him! She opened her heart, just that little bit, and he hurt her again! He had no right to do this to her body, to her mind. No right. She didn't care if he was lord of the entire underground.  
  
He made her weak.  
  
He had her daughter.  
  
She pleaded with him to be the father.  
  
She pleaded with the Goblin King.  
  
She pleaded.  
  
"Damn you, Jareth."  
  
"Wonderful!" Aaron shouted and Rose twirled around in reckless abandon. Her black dress flew out around her ankles and tightened at her knees as she spun round and round.  
  
Rose moved to a graceful halt, then fell over.  
  
A burst of laughter caught Aaron by surprise. "Beautiful!" he commented. This mortal was great fun.  
  
Rose became tangled in her dress and managed to lose one shoe and rip a seam about an inch getting up, but she was still smiling. "Care to try the faster dance?"  
  
She nodded enthusiastically. She had never had more fun in her life. She knew this wasn't Sarah's friend she had called so long ago, but he would have made a wonderful father.  
  
They linked hands and the music began again.  
  
"Be careful." Rose cautioned as they switched places. "I could get better then you."  
  
"I doubt that." He chuckled as he twirled her around him. "I've been at this for a hundred years."  
  
"Wow!" Rose gasped. "You pick up on thing slooooowly."  
  
He dipped her, propped her back up and continued dancing with nothing more then a smile as answer. He beamed. There was no romance in the dance, only the sort of thing a father would dance with his daughter.  
  
"Where the hell is Aaron?" Jareth asked as calmly as he could. The ball room had been empty. Aaron loved to dance. He tried to explain it to Jareth once but apparently the passion in the Goblin Kings veins was focused on other things.  
"He- he's in the b-ballroom, your highness." The small goblin stammered.  
  
"Good." He murmured.  
  
"Sarah." Jareth called gently.  
  
"Go away." Sarah muttered, keeping her eyes firmly on the ground.  
  
Jareth cupped her cheek in one hand and lifted her face so she looked at him. "I know you hate me." He gasped silently at the knife-edge pain of his words hit him. "But my friend may be of some comfort. Will you come and meet him?"  
  
"Why would he comfort me?" She said bitterly and knocked away his hand. Jareth felt the heart wound bleeding. "Because he can protect you." Because he's not me. "Fine."  
  
Aaron was surprised the little girl could still stand. Was she just never ending energy? Aaron found himself watching her, wishing she was old enough to know what these dances held. He had never been able to settle down with a Fae maid. Not the he hadn't tried. He grimaced at the memory. "Aaron?" Rose asked softly, waking him from his thoughts.  
"What is it?"  
She drew her brow together. "Your not happy."  
He sighed and wished she wasn't as perceptive. Perhaps she had the gift of empathy, he thought slowly. "Nothing. It's nothing."  
She put her tiny, porcelain hand on his and looked into his eyes. "But-" she paused and took her hand away, reconsidering, "You don't trust me?"  
He froze, wondering how her little mind had jumped from happy dancing to rejection. What had happened in her earlier years?  
He pulled her hand back. "It's not you Lady Rose." He pulled himself into a low bow. Rose giggled.  
"Oh." She pushed her hand on his chest for a moment and dashed away across the ball room, calling over her shoulder, "TAG! You're it!!"  
  
Sarah didn't know what to say. Jareth was equally speechless.  
  
A Fae Lord was . . . Chasing a human child around in erratic circles across the ballroom, every now and then he would catch up to her and call 'tag' or he would let her 'tag' him and then they would reverse direction. Jareth was astounded.  
And when she did know what to say, she found she couldn't say it.  
  
They hadn't noticed the company.  
  
Jareth cleared his throat.  
  
Aaron spun around and froze.  
  
Rose crashed into him, knocking him off balance and they both fell to the marble floor. Aaron scrambled to his feet and tried to look dignified. "Jareth." He stammered, bowing his head to hide the crimson flush that spread up from his neck. "Lady." Sarah was still in a state of shock. This-this man had been . . . playing tag with her daughter.  
"Jareth." She said calmly and acknowledged him with a curt nod. "Sarah." She greeted coldly.  
  
Jareth, despite himself, demanded, "Aaron, were you taking advantage of this girl?"  
  
Recovering himself, Aaron tried to keep his face from burning red. "If you mean taking advantage of an excellent dance partner, then yes."  
  
Jareth's high arched eyebrows rose further, almost disappearing into his hairline. "I suppose you call that dancing."  
  
Sarah finally found her tongue. "Rose Williams! What in the name of god were you doing!?" She screeched.  
  
Rose looked over her mother with a cold eye. "I don't see why I should tell you." She said simply.  
  
"I'm your mother!" Her voice was losing strength by the second. She was caught off guard by the coldness her daughter harbored for her.  
  
"Not anymore." Her eyes blazed with ire.  
  
Sarah, caught completely unawares, nearly fainted. "W-what?" She whispered weakly.  
  
"I said not any more." Rose repeated slowly. "As in, You're. Not. My. Mother. Any. More."  
  
"Rose! Stop this!" Sarah shouted. Her voice sounded more like a plea.  
  
"When do mothers wish their children to the person you taught them to hate and not to trust?! When do they do that!?"  
  
"I DIDN'T WANT YOU TO DIE!"  
  
Whatever Rose was about to say died in her mouth.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I said I don't want you to die, Rose!" Sarah cried.  
  
"I-But- I wouldn't die?" Her voice began to waver, her firm ground knocked out form under her.  
  
"Why the hell else would I wish you away!? I love you!"  
  
Rose stared. Jareth stared. Aaron stared.  
  
"If I had left you there you would have died. He gutted me, so I could listen to you screaming as he killed you. Don't give me any shit about not being a good mother." She turned to Jareth. "Thank you for leading me to my daughter, now could you please escort me to my rooms?"  
  
Jareth faltered, off guard. "Yes, my lady." 


	7. HELP ME!

A/n: This story.Has left me. I do believe this is the worst writers block I've EVER had. PLEASE help me! This is all I got! So read.And review with what should happen. I lost all the stuff I had written and there is NO way to remember it! I'm soo sorry!  
  
"Thank you, Jareth," Sarah said slowly when they had reached the room she would be staying in. "I, um," She trailed off.  
Jareth's heart was going a mile a minuet. She was so close he could feel the heat of her body. He almost couldn't stop himself from leaning forward and kissing her. He clenched his teeth.  
"Jareth?" Sarah asked, peering into his face, "Are you alright?"  
Jareth felt himself over come by some thing akin to panic.  
I'm simply trying not to throw you down and kiss you.  
No that would never ever do.  
"I'm dizzy," He told her, lamely.  
"Oh. Uh." She opened the door to her room a bit wider and said slowly, "Um. Why don't you come in and. . . uh, lie down or some thing."  
That red color looks absolutely charming on your cheeks. "Thank you Sarah."  
The room was actually really nice. But Jareth could hardly focus on the dark mahogany walls and the matching bed.  
Well, maybe the matching bed. . .  
"Um." Sarah said, her cheeks turning a darker and darker crimson. "Here. Let me help you." She gently pushed him to the edge of the bed. He sat down heavily and forced neutral thoughts.  
Seeing he was settled and no longer looked to fall over, Sarah backed away from him. Fast.  
Sarah backed into the wall. Her heart was racing. Her curiosity was brimming her near to bursting. His lips looked so soft.Maybe just one kiss wouldn't hurt.  
But he'd hurt her! He'd left her! But. . .  
He was here now. . .  
  
Rose slumped on the ground. Her reality was completely shattered. Just gone.  
"Miss Rose?" Aaron asked, looking worried. "Rose, are you alright?" He knelt beside Rose, looking worried. Rose reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck and cried quietly.  
Aaron quietly rubs her back and soothed her as a father would his daughter. 


End file.
